Drake shook with euphoria, as he saw the text in front of him with his new class name. Elemental Miller, it sounded like it came right out of a book.
But he was soon bombarded with notifications on his peripheral as he attempted to get through them all one by one.
[Congratulations! You have upgraded to a new class Elemental Miller [F Rank] [Unique]
[All basic spells and skills have been removed]
[You now have access to skill trees. Primary Class Tree, Elementalist. Second Primary Class Tree, Shield Miller.]
[You have unlocked 4 empty Sub-tree Class slots available]
[You have gained access to the Elementalist [F Rank] Main Class Skill Tree.]
[You have unlocked 5 empty skill stone slots for Elementalist [F Rank]
[You have learned how to wield the Four Major Elements from your Elementalist Class]
[You have gained passive stats and effects from your class Elementalist [F Rank]
[You have gained access to the Shield Miller [F Rank] Main Class Skill Tree.]
[You have unlocked 5 empty skill stone slots for Shield Miller [F Rank]
[You have learned Basic Fighting Forms, and Weapon Mastery from your class Shield Miller]
[You have gained passive stats and effects from your class Shield Miller [F Rank]
[You have gained insight into [Elementalist [F Rank] Proficiency 1 has increased to Proficiency 2. You now have better understanding of how to wield mana and the four elements]
Drake's head started to feel like it was splitting as the notifications flooded in. He began to feel as if knowledge he shouldn't have was suddenly there, filling in the gaps of his scattered experience.
He knelt to the floor with his head in his hands as the torrent of information continued to enter his mind, threatening to turn his head to mush. Only after several minutes of the painful experience did it finally subside.
Drake laid face up on the shack's wooden floor, a small bead of blood running down from his nose.
"I know Kung Fu," he chortled, ignoring the lingering headache he had, "And how to blast things with fire. Nice," he continued to laugh, "What in the hell was that? That didn't happen when I got my basic class."
Drake slowly sat up, trying not to agitate his pounding head. He wanted to start looking over his new status and such but he felt he should wait until his head didn't feel like it would explode from new information overload.
He backtracked a bit in his notifications to the last thing he needed to roll for.
[Quest Complete! 5 of 5 Squad Commander Kobolds [F Rank] Subjugated]
[Accept Rewards?]
[Yes] [No]
[You have been awarded 200,000 Experience Points]
[Please roll for rarity of item]
Drake was fully satisfied from today's haul and events. So he didn't bother getting up and tossed the die from his sitting position. It rolled on the floor, then a little more out of his vision. After a few moments the die came to a stop, and a mode of colorful light dropped an item into his lap.
It was an egg. A very big egg.
The egg was around a foot tall and slightly less wide. It was a clean porcelain color and felt smooth and polished to the touch. Drake turned the object around in his hands, and found a large 'TA' stamped on the other side in red.
Finally done looking at the egg he inspected it.
[Territory Assistant Construct Capsule] [Grade F]
A construct AI made by the system for the purpose of helping rulers of newly established territories in budding universes of the multiverse.
1 Time use item
Requirement: A drop of blood to bind to the owner. Monster Cores for continued growth and increased capabilities.
Disclaimer: The system is not responsible for the race, shape, age, gender, and certainly not personality your construct will take.
"Well that seems a little foreboding…. I do like the idea of a builder sim aspect though, not that I'm much of a leader. Ah there was that one time in the game where Grumps made me Guild and Raid Leader. But that was only because he thought it was a hassle and didn't want to do it though…." Drake reminisced. "I haven't exactly been a fan of the system constructs so far but everyone deserves a second chance, right?"
Drake hesitantly looked at the egg for a moment, wondering if this was the best decision to just use it, but it was an F Grade Item and an Assistant did sound like something that could help him right now.
He resolved himself, and did what he had always seen when someone wanted to summon something. He bit his thumb and smeared it on the egg.
"Oh man, that's way harder to do than the ninjas make it look…" He grumbled.
The blood on the egg only sat there for a moment, then seemed to be absorbed into the shell. The shell of the egg rippled, the color turning in a wave from porcelain to a dark shade of red. Beginning to tremble slightly, Drake set it on the floor in front of him and got to his feet, backing up slightly.
A few more moments later, the egg stopped shaking. And began to glow a radiant color of gold from its center as the shell began to crack and fragment, sending out beams of gold from them.
All at once a large crack fractured the top of the egg from one end to the other, and the glow disappeared.
Drake, unsure of what was going on, moved to the egg. Looking down at it he waited to see what had happened for a moment.
"Is it.. defective?" He muttered with suspicion.
Suddenly the egg's top burst open with a pop, as something flew out into the air in front of Drake. Out of reflex Drake snatched the object.
Drake grew even more curious as he noticed the feeling of the thing in his hands. It was, wiggling? And was, fluffy…?
Drake brought the thing to his face, and felt astonished as he got a look at the thing. No. Little person?
Struggling in Drake's hand was a small girl, with redish pointed furry tufts for ears that were on top of her light pink hair.
"P…Pl..please… Let go! I… give… give up…!" The girl squeaked out in a voice that sounded exactly how she looked. Her hands tapping on Drake's wrapped around her neck.
"Oh! Shit my bad." Drake exclaimed, releasing the small girl from his hand as she fell on her rump on the wooden floor.
She squeaked out another short 'ow' when she landed but quickly recovered as she got to her feet in a humph pointing up at Drake.
"What the hell is wrong with you!? Who grabs a small cute girl out of the air and chokes them nearly half to death?! You goddamn gorilla!!" she shouted, her furry ears and tail pointing straight up in anger. "Not only did this dolt almost kill me as soon as I was created, but he ruined what was going to be my clearly awesome entrance! I was going to be all Ha! Then wham, 'I have arrived!'" She continued in a huff, crossing her arms pouting.
Drake was flabbergasted, as he watched the small girl that he could now see was wearing what was similar to shrine maiden clothing he had seen in almost every anime he had ever watched, act out a little skit right in front of him. He had never seen what it would look like if a live anime gag had been done right in front of him but this felt like what it would be.
Drake bent down to his haunches, "I've been fighting for my life for over a week now, if something randomly pops out of an egg, the least I'm going to do is capture it to make sure it isn't dangerous. Hell, you're lucky I didn't punch you into next week." He said flatly.
The girl looked up at him, and opened her mouth about to say something, then decided against it. Her ears and fluffy tail drooping.
Drake began to feel bad and followed up with, "So what or who exactly are you? The system text said you were an Assistant of some kind."
The girl's ears perked up at the question. "That's right! Ahem.." She coughed and paused for dramatic effect Drake guessed.
The girl lightly hopped off the ground and landed with an excessive flail of her arms like she had done a superhero landing. Lifting her head she looked into Drake's eyes, her own squinted.
"Do not worry! I have arrived! Ha ha ha!! I will make sure to guide you through the perils of the universe!! I am, Natto!!!" She roared, rising to her feet, her hands on her hips. Whispering something that sounded like 'Perfect' under her breath.
Drake did all he could to not laugh at the little girl, Natto. And her obviously stolen routine from one of Drake's favorite animes.
"Ok, where did that come from? Um.. Natto? And that doesn't exactly answer my question." Drake asked, doing his best to hold back his smile.
Natto suddenly shook and dropped down to her own haunches. Her head in her hands. Whispering incomprehensible words towards the ground. Forcing Drake to bend down even more to make out what she was saying.
"Ahhh why did I do those things? It is like I have this urge to spew out the first thing that comes to my mind and act like some cutesy anime girl. But my body is fully rejecting it to the point it is shaking! What is all this useless information in my head about cartoons and video games?! With certainty, has the system saddled me with some moron?!"
Drake leaned back a little offended," Hey they aren't cartoons they're Japanese animations, there's a difference."
Natto lifted her head, her lip quivering upwards in annoyance. "That has nothing to do with it!! What exactly did you put in my head you moronic hairless primate?! Please! Do something to make all the songs in my head stop! I can not even understand them!!!" She screamed. "Maybe you should have just killed me…" she said, as her whole body drooped again in resignation.
"Awe come on, don't say that." Drake said consolingly. Bringing his hand down to pat her on the head.
But Natto quickly swiped the hand away, a small dagger appearing in her hands now. "Do not touch me filth!" She sneered, pointing the sharp end of the weapon at Drake with both hands.
Drake looked at his hand and there was no cut so he just ignored the dagger. "A little squirrely there aren't you?" He asked pointedly.
"That is because I am modeled after a Red Squirrel you moron." She answered, slipping the dagger into one of her sleeves.
"Hey. I get that you're not happy but, cut the shit with the random insults. That tsundere routine is only cute in anime." Drake said, his hand raising above Natto's head.
She whimpered and recoiled a bit, seeing the seriousness in Drake's eyes. "Un.. understood…" She conceded.
"Good. Banter is all fair and fun just don't get carried away just yet. We literally just met a couple minutes ago, and you've already had a mood swing, tried to stab me and insulted my hobbies. Not a great first impression." Drake said.
"You tried to strangle me to death before you even knew my name," she fired back.
"Ok you got me there. Water under the bridge," Drake said, reaching out a hand for a handshake.
"I do not think almost killing me, and calling you a few names is comparable… But it is not like I can die and leave, we certainly are stuck until you meet a gruesome end," she said reluctantly, raising a small hand to meet him.
"It's all good! Now what exactly do you have stuck in your head, and why is it anime? And why are you so mad about it?" Drake quickly asked, glossing over the fact she was completely right about him almost killing her.
Natto stood up and looked at Drake with deadpanned eyes, "Can you imagine, having something so ingrained in you that you have no choice but to comply? It feels like an itch I have to scratch or it will consume me…"
"Oh, so it's like a song that's constantly playing in the background of your head, and when you finally hear the song you have to sing along, and then it's even more stuck in your head," Drake said, nodding his head.
"No it is… actually yes that is an apt analogy," Natto agreed.
"So if I was to, I don't know… start referencing things from my favorite shows and stuff you would know exactly what I meant? And why again would you know all these references?" He asked again.
Natto narrowed her eyes. "Yes, I would understand them… And have you not read the fine print on my container?"
"You mean the blood?" Drake asked.
"Yes the blood you hairless- " she coughed. "Yes the blood, did you think it was just to bind myself to you?"
Drake just stared at her, his brows raised. Silence his affirmation.
Natto sighed briefly and continued. "While the blood was mainly used to form a blood binding for myself and you, it was also to construct a basis for myself. Giving me some… Personality, even if some if not most of it is unwanted," she pouted, but nevertheless continued, "Also to give me some insight into you as a being. There are a copious amount of races in the multiverse, each having some predetermined traits, so it is my job as a Territory Assistant to subsume some of those traits to better mesh with my new owner and help guide them to flourishing while staying in line with their cultural norms, how they think, feel, and idealize. Is this to your understanding so far?"
She finished while walking towards the eggs remains, and putting it away into what Drake assumed was a personal inventory.
"Yeah I'm following. So I'm guessing you have some of my memories then. Does that mean you know most of what is going on?" Drake asked, raising a brow.
"Certainly!" She said haughtily. "I unfortunately do not have a perfect recall of your entire time here, but I do understand bits and pieces. And I can also do this!" she said, jumping onto Drake's shoulder.
Drake looked on at the small girl as she walked a few steps from his shoulder over to his head. "Remain still, this will be the first time I will be penetrating anyone after all," she said with a grin.
"What do you mea-" Drake tried to say, but quickly felt like he had been injected with something. As Natto had somehow disappeared inside his head. It was almost the same feeling as when you first get water in your ear, when you jump into a pool or bath.
"Ah, Ah. Can you hear me?" said Natto, a faint voice inside his head.
"Oh I don't like that. What did you do?! This isn't an Invasion of the Body Snatchers type deal is it?!" Drake asked, slight panic in his voice.
"No you dolt. I'm able to merge myself with your body so that I can better understand your situation, mentally and physically. As well as go through your memories in more detail. I also have the added perk of getting back at you through some means I know you hate, since I understand you so well…" She answered.
Drake moved to pick up the die he had thrown, a 20 visible as he bent down to pick it up, when her words suddenly registered.
"What did I say about toning down the insults? And what means… Wait, no you can't mean?!" Drake asked, his fear now apparent in his shaking voice. As he hesitantly began combing his head for what he was sure to be there, but didn't want to confirm.
Soon his hands were met with a soft sensation of tufts of fur that pointed upwards, and he could somehow now feel as he rubbed them softly, like a phantom almost empathic sensation.
"Oh you son of a bitch!" Drake yelled, his voice echoing out of the shack and into the mines.